After two years, there will finally be another major commemoration of Operation Amherst next week. The 33 French soldiers who died in this military action at the end of the Second World War are commemorated.
Colonel Harold de Jong is delighted that a large memorial can be held again. “You think about what these people have done for our freedom.”
We go back to the night of 7 to 8 April 1945. Part of the Netherlands has already been liberated from the German occupier. But not Drenthe yet. Operation Amherst had to ensure that the road was paved for Canadian and Polish soldiers who would liberate this part of the Netherlands in the weeks that followed. “The French were a kind of trailblazers,” says De Jong in the Radio Drenthe program Drenthe Then†
A total of 702 French paratroopers jumped out of the plane that night. In the five days that their mission lasted, 33 of them were killed.
Protect bridges
The operation was concentrated in the triangle of Hoogeveen, Meppel and Assen. Its purpose was to protect bridges. These were necessary to allow the Canadians and Poles to move to Groningen and Delfzijl. The French paratroopers had to prevent the Germans from blowing up these bridges.
But in this action the French encountered resistance from the Germans. “Most casualties were due to firefights. The parachute did not open for a few. Someone also landed in the water and drowned,” says De Jong, who published a book about Operation Amherst last year with the name French paratroopers in Drenthe†
The French received the most resistance in Groningen, De Jong explains. “There were still very few Germans here. Only there was a German commander in Westerbork. Between Hoogeveen and Overijssel he had four companies. The biggest resistance was actually in Groningen. Assen was liberated without damage, but Groningen looked terrible. Almost everything had been destroyed by major bombing raids.”
commemorate
The French who died will be commemorated next week, including parachute jumps. French people will also be present at the commemoration. “There is a large association in France where relatives of French paratroopers who fell in Europe are united. In the coming week 17 people will come to Drenthe. In a bus we drive past monuments to commemorate the fallen relatives.”
In total there are 22 monuments commemorating the operation. This also includes the graves of the three soldiers who were buried in Drenthe.
broken knee
De Jong has investigated the victims. “Unfortunately I was only able to take 31 portraits. What we know is that the oldest was 42 years old, the youngest 17.”
At the moment, fourteen of the more than 700 French paratroopers are still alive. Twelve of them are now so old that – according to De Jong – they can no longer remember the military action. But one of them was planning to attend the memorial next week.”
According to De Jong, he is an active man who remained active in the army after the military operation in 1945. “But he fell last week and broke his knees. His doctor advised him not to come here.”
Ukraine
To emphasize the importance of the commemoration, De Jong makes the link with the current war in Ukraine. “We must never forget what others have done for us so that we can live here in freedom. We now see in Ukraine how important freedom is.”
Despite corona, there has been a small commemoration in the past two years. “Last year we went with a small group of people to all the monuments that have a relationship with the French paratroopers. Then we checked the last post blown, a minute of silence and the reveille blown.”
Actually, that small commemoration was just as valuable for De Jong as the big commemoration next week. “Whether you do the commemoration with two or three people, or like next week with forty or fifty people, it doesn’t matter. You think about what those people have done for our freedom.”
Wreaths, names and parachutes
The commemorations start on Wednesday along the so-called outposts, Thursday is the big commemoration in front of the barracks gate in Assen. “It is taken up big, with the Royal Military Band Johan Willem Friso. Wreaths are laid and the students of the Dr Nassau College will read the names of the 33 victims,” says De Jong. “You know the saying: if you’re not mentioned anymore, you’re really dead? That’s why we read their names aloud.”
There will then be commemorations on Friday at all small monuments throughout Drenthe. At the end of the afternoon, Spier pays tribute to 21 executed civilians. The commemorations will be concluded on Saturday with a ceremony in Westerbork. Next to the memorial center, 24 paratroopers will land in memory of the liberation operation.
Due to the war in Ukraine, the commemoration in Westerbork is more sober than usual. “We don’t celebrate, but we do commemorate,” De Jong concludes.